Tap, tap. The corridor of the Magic Tower.
To prevent the sale and ensure the prosperity of the Imperial Magic Tower, my decisions were filled with immense confidence.
But in hindsight, I had another problem to deal with.
A proposal letter.
My relationship with Hedera wasn’t just that of a princess and an inspector of the Magic Tower. In the past, we were even teacher and student, and I had sent a drunken proposal letter.
What if this visit wasn’t about the sale issue?
What if Hedera’s visit was because of the proposal letter?
“… ”
Headache intensifies.
But it was already spilled water and an uncontrollable fire.
Lost in thought, I suddenly felt a presence.
At the far end of the corridor, a woman stared at me without hiding the overwhelming presence of a Dragon’s Blood owner.
I stood my ground. She approached with a steady pace, accompanied by a guard.
At one point, our distance closed in, and just when we could reach out and touch each other, our movements halted.
“It’s been a while.”
With a restrained tone. It was the woman who broke the silence.
She had changed a lot, but still remained beautiful.
With jet-black hair and a mask covering her mouth, only her eyes were visible, shining like rubies.
“Yeah, it’s been a while.”
This woman was Hedera, the 2nd Princess of the Empire.
A master of Dragon Speech and Dragon Speech, she might become the Emperor of the Empire someday.
At that moment, I sensed something massive—a killing intent.
Initially, I thought it was coming from Hedera, but thankfully, it wasn’t.
It came from the guard standing like a statue next to her.
He already had his hand resting on his sword, as if ready to strike at any moment.
I ignored it.
Feeling threatened by a mere guard? Never gonna happen.
“How have you been? No, what have you been up to?”
Hedera asked in a very restrained tone.
It was a question not about mere pleasantries, but rather what I had been doing.
It was a very difficult question to answer given my circumstances.
─This operation is confidential.
─No one except you and me must know.
─Those fallen teammates of yours… their families are quite a few.
─Shouldn’t they be alive? You understand, right?
It was difficult to reveal the operation I undertook at that time.
The Emperor has exterminated everyone who knew the truth, and even though she is the Emperor’s daughter, she would be no exception.
However, it wasn’t just about Hedera’s safety.
─Ah… Captain…
─Please tell our names someday…
─I promise.
That day, I had promised my teammates.
They were the backbone of my life, so I never forgot the promise that day. It’s still too early to disclose this fact for the sake of clarity across the continent.
To deliver a single fatal blow, I must quietly sharpen the blade. No one must know this process, not even myself at times.
A grand mission, a quest for vengeance—it’s how it works.
Thus, it was best to dismiss Hedera’s words.
“It was just okay. It was an ordinary day.”
The best answer I could muster, yet Hedera’s eyebrows twitched.
A complex emotion flickered across her eyes. It was clear she thought, “How can he say something so easily when I asked so hard?”
Eventually, she seemed to have chosen a direct approach.
“Do you remember the last game we played?”
Hide and seek. I do remember.
“You never managed to find me.”
I quietly nodded.
Hedera’s obsession at that time was stronger than I had imagined.
While the Emperor held the Demon Lord, I had to close the gates to the Demon Realm. Hedera clung to me wherever I went, and that was the best reason to separate her from me.
Seeing I had no answer, Hedera sighed.
Swish—
She quickly gathered the documents in her hands.
Then she pulled out a small piece of paper wedged between the sheets, and even from a distance, I recognized it immediately—it was the proposal letter I had written and sent.
“Why did you send this letter?”
“…”
Unfortunately, that was something I couldn’t say for a different reason.
I wrote it in a drunken stupor. There’s no way I could spit that out.
Our reunion was a long time coming, and I had some overwhelming circumstances that remained unspoken.
But to think the reason for our reunion was a letter written in a drunken state…
Hedera urged me for an answer.
“Do you have no intention to respond?”
It was evident that saying the straightforward truth would land me in trouble. At this moment, my best option was to counter her question.
“Why are you asking?”
“…Hmm.”
Hedera slightly furrowed her brow.
Her expression seemed to convey she couldn’t understand why I would ask that back.
I mean, what would it feel like to face a man who sent a proposal letter but can’t even explain the reason for writing it?
However, she continued in her restrained tone.
“You said this before, to always give your best in front of me.”
Hedera’s red eyes stared me down.
“So now, I’m asking you seriously. Why did you send this letter? Is it true you wrote it yourself?”
A myriad of thoughts crossed my mind.
First, I couldn’t reveal the actual reason.
I came up with several convenient excuses, but I didn’t want to fool Hedera with shallow lies. My life was an outcome of the Empire’s lies.
After my thoughts settled, I finally said,
“It doesn’t really matter.”
At that, Hedera’s reptilian pupils split vertically like a lizard’s from within her red eyes. A grinding crunch resounded from behind her mask.
“It’s true I wrote it, but I can’t tell you the reason.”
“Ha…”
Eventually, Hedera let out a hollow laugh.
No, it was more of a sigh than laughter.
She seemed disappointed in herself for even expecting something, the “Oh right, of course” realization sinking in. The intricacy of her feelings was something I dared not measure.
“Indeed, the past is heavily romanticized.”
Soon her tone turned dry, like withered leaves ready to break.
“I was nothing to you, and it seems now you’ve come to long for the place in the Imperial Family… Yes. Now I truly understand. It’s a relief. I can live on without holding distorted hopes.”
Hedera crumpled the letter and tucked it away.
“I’ll be going.”
That was her last word, and Hedera began to walk past me in the corridor.
Click, clack. The sound of high-heeled shoes echoed at regular intervals.
Click—click—
The girl who once waited aimlessly for days in a distant past had grown into a woman who could boldly say she was leaving.
It was a pleasant growth, but I realized at the same time, I couldn’t let Hedera leave like this.
“Hedera.”
I spoke the name of the 2nd Princess.
Yet, despite having heard my call, she didn’t stop. Her steps showed no hesitation.
“I haven’t finished speaking yet.”
Only then did she halt her pace.
Although she still faced away from me, I understood the meaning behind her pause—she was willing to listen.
“The fact that the reason doesn’t matter means there’s something else that does matter.”
But Hedera started walking again.
Click—click—
She seemed uninterested in what I had to say next, almost as if treating it as mere excuses.
I rushed to close the distance with a longer stride.
And just as we neared,
Swish—!
I grabbed her delicate wrist, turning her body towards me.
At the same time, a clang of gleaming white blade streaked towards my neck.
Kachang!
The guard had swiftly drawn his sword, but such a hastily constructed attack couldn’t breach the ice barrier I quickly erected. I felt the surprise from the sword’s tip.
I slowly parted my lips.
“That letter…”
Even if fueled by drunkenness, it wasn’t devoid of sincerity.
It was something I could still say without hiding.
At the same time, it was something I wouldn’t deceive Hedera about.
“At the very least, it’s sincere.”
Immediately, both Hedera and the guard froze.
The sound of heels echoed ceased, and the corridor fell silent.
In the void, we locked gazes, staring at each other.
In the moment where her dragon-like crimson pupils intertwined with my blue ones,
Time and space felt like they were momentarily seized in a peculiar pause.
I was still holding onto her wrist.
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